A three-member Court of Appeal bench chaired by Justice Zaini Mazlan said the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial court on the 34-year-old man were safe.

“There is no reason for this appellate bench to disturb the findings of the trial judge, which were also affirmed by the High Court,” Zaini said.

The sentence passed by the sessions court last year also included a total of 42 strokes of the rotan, although Section 288 of the Criminal Procedure Code prescribes that the man may only be whipped a maximum of 24 times.

The man, employed by a courier service company, had been released on a RM60,000 bail pending his appeal. Following the dismissal of his case, a warrant of committal was issued for him to be sent to prison.

Zaini, who sat with Justices Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz and Radzi Abdul Hamid, said the sentence imposed against the man reflected the gravity of the offences committed on a child.

“This is a disgusting act and the court ought to remind the accused and society that such sexual crimes against children will be taken seriously and a heavy punishment will be meted out,” he said.

He said the bench disagreed with the submissions made by the man’s lawyers that the charges framed against him were defective.

“We feel in this case, the charges need not be specific like detailing the time and date when the offences were committed,” he said.

He noted that the victim was only 11 years old and needed protection from her mother and the accused.

The girl and her mother were living with the man at the time of the offences.

Zaini said the bench took into consideration that it would have been difficult for the child to express her ordeal to a third party immediately after the incidents took place.

The offences were committed between June and November 2021 at a village in Kuala Terengganu.

Evidence during the trial revealed that she finally picked up the courage to narrate what happened to her maternal grandmother.

On the first three counts, the trial judge sentenced the man to 15 years in jail and 10 strokes of the rotan for each charge, with the punishments to run consecutively. This means the man will have to serve 45 years in prison.

The sessions court also sentenced him to another 15 years and 10 strokes for the fourth offence (for incest) and seven years and two lashes for sexual assault.

The charges were framed under Sections 376(3) and 377CA of the Penal Code.

The court, however, ordered that sentences for the fourth and fifth offences run concurrently with the 45-year jail term.

Deputy public prosecutor P Sarulatha appeared for the prosecution while lawyers Wafi Anwar Roslan and Nurul Atika Rusli represented the man.